ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENT: Customer Feedback Report

MATTHEW KANG
109559
LEM 311 English for Administration
Dr. Omer Hassan Ali Mahfoodh
School of Languages, Literacies and Translation
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Date of submission:
20
th
November 2012

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TABLE OF CONTENTS pg
1. List of tables ii
2. Acknowledgement ii
3. Abstract iii
4. Write Up
a. Introduction 1
b. Methodology 2
c. Discussions 3
d. Conclusion 11
5. References 12
6. Appendix 13

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LIST OF TABLES
1. Table 1: Advantages and Disadvantaged of CFR (pg.8)
Acknowledgement
I would like to take this opportunity to thank God for the moral guidance and the inspiration
that have transpired throughout this period of research. I would like to thank Him for the
direction He has pointed me to and for the sound judgment and choices I have made for this
research paper as well, especially in terms of data collection.
I would also like to thank my parents and family members for their continuous support
throughout the length of the research. I am very thankful for the patience and moral support
they have given me, allowing me the strength and perseverance to complete this
assignment.
Following, I would like to thank my lecturer Dr Omer Mahfoodh of class LEM311, for his
unending guidance and unceasing help with our questions and qualms about this
assignment - thank you for all the lectures in class and the knowledge that you have
imparted to us through them, without which we will never be able to apply it in this
assignment.
I am also very honored and humbled by the sincerity shown by my interviewee Mr Hew who
has taken his time to allow me to interview him for the purpose of this research. His
willingness to share the documents in his workplace has been an invaluable lesson not only
in the academic sense but also in life.
Finally, I would like to thank my fellow course-mates for being there with me every step
along the way towards the completion of this assignment. It has been a refreshing
experience every time we work side by side and I would have it no other way. Their trials
and tribulations have been a source of inspiration and support for me.
I am forever grateful and blessed. Thank you.

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ABSTRACT
For this research paper, I have contacted an acquaintance, Mr Hew, who works in the
electrical engineering company and set up an interview with him for the purpose of
discussing documents that he encounters in his workplace. During the interview, there was a
total of 4 business administration documents that Mr Hew has discussed and explained
thoroughly. Through the interview questions as well, I explored the different aspects of the
documents in terms of its function, advantages, disadvantages, intended audience and so
forth for this paper. The documents were then passed over for further analysis in forms of
structure, construct, linguistics and purpose. Out of the 4 documents received, only one type,
known as the Customer Feedback Report (CFR) was selected for further deduction. Mr Hew
has also provided 2 samples of the same document for a cross comparison of functions and
format of the document. Although the identity of Mr Hews company and the customer giving
the complaint was obstructed due to privacy and confidentiality issues, the documents were
nonetheless analyzed based on Swales Genre Model, Bhatias extension of that model and
also Foucalts definition of discourse community. As a guide too, the documents were
analyzed according to the AMA Handbook of Business Writing and Business Letters. One of
the prominent objectives of this research paper is to identify and explore and gain exposure
to the different forms of business documents out there in the actual corporate world. By
doing this research, the students will be aware that no writing comes in a fixed format and
that business documents in general may differ from one organization to the other. The
findings and results of the analysis of both the documents are posited in the Discussion
section of this paper and the samples of the documents attached in the appendix. The
transcription of the interview conducted with Mr Hew is also included in the appendix for
further reference.


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INTRODUCTION
This research paper is the product of a case study done on several specific business
documents of an organization. This study focuses mainly on the construction of the
document itself in aspects such as: language use, format, style and lettering, frequency of
usage, functions and its advantages and disadvantages of the documents. The subsequent
write-up will be focused on the discussion of these aspects of the document analysis as per
the explanation of the interviewee who deals with these documents.
For the purpose of this research I have got the opportunity to interview Mr. Hew from an
undisclosed company providing electronic manufacturing services. The company provides
services that assist original equipment manufacturer (OEM) companies to manufacture their
products. Other larger companies who have to manufacture their own electrical products will
usually look to Mr. Hews company for assistance when they have to outsource this
manufacturing, usually out of cost-effective reasons.
Mr. Hew works as a manager in the Quality Control department of the company. His
department is responsible mainly to handle issues related to supply quality, product quality,
customers feedback and customer complaints. From time to time, his department also helps
set up management systems for the organization, usually in-house departments which
includes helping them set up their certain standard procedures and instructions for the
organization.
For this case study too, Mr. Hew was generous enough to explain to me and allow me to
analyze four different types of documents which are the 1) customer feedback report, 2)
preliminary investigation report and 3) standard operating procedure and 4) technical data
sheet. These documents were chosen out of the frequency of encounter and also because
its function represents closely the function of the department itself. The interview was then
conducted to acquire the information of the company and the information of the documents
itself. Due to time constraints and privacy issues, the researcher will only examine the
Customer Feedback Report (CFR).
In a nutshell, the Customer Feedback Report is generally a report his department receives
when there is dissatisfaction with the product or if there are certain issues with the product.
These feedbacks could be in the form of plain feedbacks or they could bite back as
complaints. A CFR is prepared after a very long and thorough process which involves
investigating for the source of complain, identifying the cause, gathering a team of personnel
to resolve the issue and then preparing the report once the issue has been resolved.
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METHODOLOGY
The data collection of this paper was done through an appointed interview with the
interviewee, Mr. Hew of a company providing electronic manufacturing services. The
interviewee, being a personal friend of the researcher, was contacted via phone call to set
up an appointment date for the interview. The interview session was done in a room at the
researchers house after Mr Hews work hours in Mr Hews convenience and also for a less
stressful environment.
The interview that took place was of a very unconventional manner as the researcher was
forced to improvise on the questions in relation to the interviewees response. However, a
general consensus of interviewing technique was applied throughout the session. The
interview which lasted about 20 minutes was carried out in a very relaxing, casual and
conversational manner.
Out of the initial 10 questions prepared for the interview, five were focused on the
interviewees corporate background including his companys product, his department, his job
function and his personal responsibility in the company. The other five were supposed to be
centralized on the documents themselves like the writer, intended audience, function,
advantages and disadvantages and what does Mr. Hew use them for.
From the interview itself, these questions have been augmented to suit and fit Mr. Hews
responses. This was because occasionally Mr Hew would already answer the other
questions in his elaborate explanations of his company. These modified questions were then
more refined to tease out more functions of the documents. The recording of the interview
was then transcribed for further and deeper analysis.
Mr Hew has then passed over the relevant documents to me for the analysis. The
documents acquired were then studied and analyzed according to Mr Hews explanation
during the interview. The documents were analyzed based on its linguistic elements and its
format. Further, the analysis was also based on the content matter of the interview in terms
of its reasons, advantages and disadvantages of the use of these documents. The product of
the analysis can be found in the next part of this research paper which is the discussion.



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DISCUSSION
Customer Feedback Report
The Customer Feedback Report (CFR)
1

From the interview conducted, Mr Hew explained that the Customer Feedback Report (CFR)
is only necessary whenever they receive a feedback from their customers regarding their
products or services. As he puts it, nothing is perfect, therefore it is only natural for his
company, or any other company for that matter to receive the occasional feedback, both
positive and negative, on their products and services. The CFR is important in this sense, is
not only important to ensure that the customers are happy but also to ensure that Mr Hews
company will strive to deliver top-notch flawless services and products. The CFR serves as a
communicatory platform for the customers to complain or raise an issue and for the team of
technicians to reply to that.
The CFR is the direct result of thorough investigation and a long process involving various
analysis and corrective actions. In other words, the report is prepared after Mr Hew and his
team of professionals is done investigating and correcting the feedback received from the
customer. As can be seen by the two samples chosen for this paper, the first CFR is
received due to a faulty product which resulted in the returning of 504 units of the pieces
shipped out. The second CFR Therefore, it is the responsibility of Mr Hew and his team to
prepare this report for the reference of the customer and also for the review of an in-house
supervisor.
Presently the first Customer Feedback Report (CFR) consists of three pages while the
second CFR only has 2 pages. It is formatted in a (what style is this?) form which allows the
recipient of the complaint and the person preparing this report to fill in the necessary
information needed to further assess the situation. The chosen table format allows for the
reproduction of the document in numerous copies to be easily used as a standardized
template. The document also has a visible watermark which reads Private and Confidential
to keep the document private between the two companies only. The CFR begins with the
letterhead of the company which has been blocked out due to privacy issues followed by the
title of the document itself. To the right of the title is the CFR reference number to be
identified for future documentation and reference.


1
Attached in the Appendix
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From the two The CFRs it is clear that the document is made up of mainly seven different
categories as listed below:
1. Customer information/Company information
2. Nature/Details of Feedback
3. Team Members (report prepared by a team)
4. Immediate/Containment Action
5. Root Cause Analysis
6. Corrective Action
7. Verification of Corrective Action
Customer Information/ Company Information
Following the most basic rules of writing formal and administrative documents, the format is
followed with the sender and receivers information at the beginning of the document itself.
As can be seen (appendix), the top left of the document has space for the complaining
customers company, the complainers name and the date of the complaint filed. On the
opposite end, the spaces are to be filled by the personnel from Mr Hews company who
received the report with space for extra remarks. This is an essential element for every
official document for it informs the reader who the document was written by and who has
received it. The same can be said for the second document.
Nature/Details of Feedback
Moving on, the next part of the Customer Feedback Report (CFR) is the Nature/Details of
Feedback. This section deals with the details of the issue the report was based on. The
writer of this report is required to define the type of feedbacks which has been narrowed
down to 1) Return Material Authorisation 2) Customer Complaints 3) Customer Observations
and etc. The person who prepares this report, [assuming it is the correspondent of the
complainer or the complainer himself] must then include the specific model of the reported
manufactured product, its amount and the reference number of the shipment in the
appropriate fields. There is also space provided for the description of the problem or issue
faced. This explanation part serves as imperative information to the subsequent sections of
the document as it tells the reader what the CFR is all about, highlighting main issues related
to the faulty product.
The first CFR contains a lot more information in this section in terms of the issues
encountered. The correspondent listed out the 8 problems in this section regarding the
complaint received from the customer, describing the faulty product. Meanwhile, the second
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CFR indeterminately has less information in this section as it is only identified as a customer
complaint unlike the previous one which was also a case of return material authorization.
The issue raised in the second CFR only affected about 5% of the overall product and
instead of describing the issue, the correspondent included the relevant pictures and visuals
in this section.
Team Members
This section shows that the preparation of the CFR is a collaborative effort. It lists out the
names, position and their roles in the correspondence of this CFR. It is the team members
involved handling the reported issue at hand. The members that make up the team can
consist of personnel like Production Manager, Facility Engineer, QA Manager and etc. As
mentioned by Mr Hew, documents of this nature require the cooperation of a multifunctional
team within the organization. The first CFR evidently saw more members involved because
the problem faced was bigger and it required a bigger team of technicians. Contrastingly, the
second CFR only involved 3 team members to, generally, investigate and overcome the
issue. Nonetheless, a report like this would require collaborative writing skills among the
team members.
Immediate/Containment Action
This section also lists out the immediate action that has been taken as soon as possible
upon receiving the CFR. It is a fairly brief and very direct list of the action that has been
executed to tackle the issue and does not come with an expansive elaborative description.
Both CFR documents display similar lengths in this section of the report. This could be due
to the fact that the document does not require a lengthy explanation of the immediate action
taken but is more emphasized in other areas of the document. While the members in the first
CFR managed to curb the issue with some cleaning materials, the members in the second
CFR was reportedly not required to provide an immediate action because there was no stock
in house for re-screening and besides, the customer has already carried out their own re-
screening.
Root Cause Analysis
The larger chunk of the CFR lies beyond this section. It is made up of a more substantial and
detailed description of the areas analyzed for the faulty product or the reported problem. This
part of the CFR deals with the investigation of the root cause of the reported problem. Here
the person preparing this section of the report will have to physically study and observe the
product in great detail to be able to list out the problems pertaining to the report. For
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instance, in this document, the problems visible to the analyzer have been itemized in
numbers along with a description that goes along with it. These root causes have been
researched and conducted experiments on and have been certified as true root causes of
the reported problem.
In this section also it is visible that the recorded information is in longer constructed
sentences. They are written in such factual form, impersonal and neutral. As suggested by
the AMA Handbook of Business Letters, the writer needs to be clear and straightforward
when writing business documents (Seglin & Coleman, 2002). A lot of the sentences are filled
with the relative jargons, terminologies and technical slangs, most of which discernible only
by their own technicians, staff, personnel. In other words, the use of language in this
segment, and actually in the following segments, rely largely on the discourse community it
was written for.
A discourse community here refers to a group of people who speak the same language or
plainly, share similar interest in certain topics or a body of knowledge about those topics and
ultimately possess a common vocabulary for discussing those topics. As Michael Foucalt
would call it, the term discourse can take to mean the conversations or information with the
attached meaning behind them understood by a group of people who hold certain ideas in
common (Hobbs, 2008). Therefore it is no wonder then that the CFR prepared and used by
Mr Hew is highly circumscribed to the community it was intended or prepared for.
While the first CFR seemed to have successfully carried out investigation to determine the
root cause, the personnel in the second CFR was unable to do so on the faulty product itself.
Although the second CFR comes attached with the visualization of the faulty product, the
team was still unable to investigate further due to the lack of evidence. No matter, the team
has proceeded to identify any other significant issues, unrelated to the product itself, that
could have brought about the complaint like Lack of awareness on inspection for this area.
Apart from the circumstantial reasons that have stopped this team from pursuing the
investigation, they also noted out possible carelessness.
Corrective Action
The most distinct difference in this segment, albeit in the same document, is that the
information is presented in separate columns. The three main columns are the corrective
actions, commitment date and personnel-in-charge. This section explains in detail the
corrective action that has been taken to rectify the issue. As for this case of a faulty product,
the technical team has executed very detailed corrective actions that make use of electronic
apparatus to mend the product or to improve it. The next column, the commitment date, is
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for the documentation of each task that has been carried out sequentially, beginning with the
last work they have done on the product. The following column records the name of the team
members responsible for that particular action taken. Both these columns allow for the
systematic documentation of information so that the progression of work can be seen
according to its time and the person in charge for the action can be held accountable or
traced back to when the problem is unsolved.
Linguistically, in the first CFR, the language used here is direct and formal. Each itemed
corrective action is usually followed by a description and explanation about the taken action.
This is done to avoid any irregularities and to avoid any misunderstanding of the taken
action. So much so it is also to avoid a repetition of actions because the singular product is
being handled by multiple persons at one time. Furthermore, evident in the second CFR this
time, the repetitive use of preposition to serves as a diminutive indication of an explanation
apart from indicating a future action. For instance, To monitor on next build for similar
issue.
Also, it can be seen that this section is heavily laden with technical terms like fabricate,
photodiode, flux, solder, thermistor, de-panelize and so forth. This section also uses
abbreviations like PCB and AOI in the writing of the segment thus making the document
exclusively for the audience in that discourse community. It is not unusual then to see
terminologies and jargons as such to be used in a document like the CFR. By any means,
the terms jargon can refer to the technical language of a profession. In the case of a
business letter, the AMA handbook would advise against the use of jargons but in the case
of Mr Hews CFR, the jargons are unavoidable as the document is intended for the
discourses audience and is essential in the physical work. (Seglin & Coleman, Grammar:
The Basics, 2002)
Verification of Corrective Action
This section is a supplementary section for the previous section. As the name suggests, it
deals with the verification of corrective action that was put forward in the previous section. Its
purpose is to sum up and to affirm the readers that the corrective actions have indeed taken
place and its result has then been tested. The customer who sent in the complaint will be
rest assured that their complaint has been attended to and the problems have been rectified.
In the first CFR, each item listed in the previous section is verified done with the term
CLOSED which signified that the problems have been resolved.
On the other hand, on the second CFR, the verification of corrective action is stated in past
tense, like No similar issue detected on next build and AOI Program re-adjusted, unlike
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the first CFR. This could mean that a more serious case like in the first CFR would require
the review and verification of a higher level personnel or the customers representative for
that matter but a simpler, smaller scaled case like in the second CFR could easily be
reviewed by their personal team members, simply to ensure that actions have been taken.
Following this section are more spaces for the verification of the entire document itself. It has
allocated two columns for an initial verification and the verifiers details and the other to
gauge the level of satisfaction and if whether a reevaluation needs to be carried out. As the
AMA Handbook points out, a document should be reviewed by subject matter experts,
management or peers to evaluate the document, criticize it and suggest improvements
(Wauson & Wilson, 1996).
Advantages and Disadvantages
Customer Feedback Report
Advantages Disadvantages
Help customers Distracting watermark
Improve their products and services Unable to write long texts in table
Ensure no faulty products in future Lack of visuals, illustrations, pictures
Encourage team work -
Format of report: table form -
Standardize CFR in company -
Table 1 Advantages and Disadvantages of CFR
Advantages
According to Mr Hew, the CFR is beneficial because it is in his company and his teams best
interest to help their customers and their intention to improve their products and services. In
fact, Mr Hew finds it quite the advantage that the preparation of the report along with the
process and the people involved in it is good to ensure that customers do not get faulty
products in the future. The CFR also has its advantage in encouraging its team members to
work together as a unit in identifying the source of the problem and coming together to
resolve it. Not only does it promote teamwork but also provides a platform for the employees
of the company to come together to resolve an issue which would not normally happen in a
naturalistic setting where departments do no work with other departments in this similar
manner.
Another advantage of the CFR document is that it is already in a table form, meaning the
format has been decided with its appropriate blank spaces and the template determined for
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the ease of the writers. The persons preparing this CFR will only need to fill in the spaces
according to what has been listed in the spaces and carry on with their report according to
the template of the CFR. This way, it will be easier for those wanting to prepare a report
without needing to crack their head on choosing which format to use. This also creates a
standard format of a report for the entire company, making future referencing and filing all
the more easier and less complicated.
In the very same light, we can say that the CFR document can potentially fulfill Swales
genre model that the document has 1) a communicative purpose, 2) a move structure and 3)
rhetorical strategies, as postulated by Askehave and Nielsen. Further, they maintain that the
communicative purpose (of a text) constitutes the rationale for the genre that means that the
purpose of a genre will eventually cause to form a particular text structure and a host of
conventionalized rhetorical strategies (Askehave & Nielsen, 2005). Furthermore, the point of
having a move structure is useful for displaying generic conventions in terms of text
organization, as displayed by the established format of the CFR in Mr Hews company.
Equally, Swales rhetorical strategies for a genre model in a text also aim to look for
regularities or standard practices in the actual formulation of genres as texts belonging to the
same genre often deploy identical similar rhetorical features. As can be seen by the
consistent language used by the different members of the same group in the CFR, Bhatia
further notes that these norms are often exploited by the expert members of the discourse
community to achieve private intentions within the framework of socially recognized
purposes (Bhatia, 1993).

Disadvantages
On the other side of the same coin, there are certain disadvantages to the CFR document.
One of the stark disadvantages is the watermark printed diagonally on every page. Although
it is understandable that the CFR document is highly Private and Confidential, the
appearance of the watermark makes the general outlook of the document appear rather
busy and disoriented. The watermark makes the document harder to read whereby readers
are forced to navigate their way through the distracting watermark. However, there is no
visible watermark on the second CFR. This itself, have caused an inconsistency in the
general outlook of the document.
Another disadvantage to the document is the direct use of table form for its template.
Although it creates a standard for the company, the table form itself makes writing long texts
very unfriendly. For instance, in Part V: Root Cause Analysis, the long tabulated text
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becomes very reader unfriendly when the sentence construction is longer than one line,
especially more so with the watermark splattered all over the text in the first CFR. The table
format also constricts the adding of any other relevant attachments like pictures.
Hence, the CFR document can be improved with the insertion of some visuals. Using the
table format does not allow space for any visualization or the use of illustrations like
drawings or pictures. Although the second CFR does contain some pictures, they are
however very small in size and can appear rather ambiguous. Pictures and any other
relevant illustration could help elevate the readers comprehension and also provide a solid
proof of the action done, not to mention give a convincing resolution to the customer or the
reviewer of the document. Rightfully, visuals in a business document should support the text
and avoid confusing the readers because visuals are a part of the overall message and
could be used effectively to communicate important ideas (Wauson & Wilson, 1996).

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CONCLUSION
From the two Customer Feedback Reports (CFR) reviewed in this paper along with the
interview conducted with Mr Hew, it has shed some light on the nature of Mr Hews
profession and the company he works for. Although during the interview, Mr Hew have
mentioned and explained more than one document, but for the purpose of this paper, only
one type of document has been selected but two of the same sample thoroughly examined.
It is evident then in writing for an administration, the writers or the personnel involved in
preparing the document employ a completely different manner of constructing a document in
terms of linguistics, format, functions, intentions and its intended readers. As can be seen,
documents in the business administration forefront are usually pre-formatted or come
subscribed to a template and these templates however efficient it may be for this particular
company may not function the same way in a completely different company.
On the effectiveness of the documents, along with its pros and cons Mr Hew related that the
design of these documents must basically function to make the lives of the writers easier and
also to make the recording and documentation of a certain product or process less
complicated and simpler. Hence, these formats and templates, however often used, should
not be final and unchanged. On the contrary, the company should continually revise,
upgrade and amend these documents to be consistently in line with the companys growth in
terms of production, organization and its worker together with the industry. Mr Hew believes
that these documents should be dynamic that they do not remain stagnant and should be
improved as the company expands or the workers change.

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Works Cited
Askehave, I., & Nielsen, A. E. (2005). Digital genres: a challenge to traditional genre theory.
Information Technology & People, 122.
Bhatia, V. (1993). Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. London: Longman.
Hobbs, M. (2008). Reflections on Michel Foucalt's Contribution to the Study of the Mass Media.
Annual Conference of the Australian Sociological Association (pp. 7-8). Melbourne:
University of Melbourne.
Seglin, J. L., & Coleman, E. (2002). Components of an Effective Letter. In J. L. Seglin, & E. Coleman,
The AMA Handbook of Business Letters (pp. 9-10). New York: AMACOM.
Seglin, J. L., & Coleman, E. (2002). Grammar: The Basics. In J. L. Seglin, & E. Coleman, The AMA
Handbook of Business Letters (pp. 53-54). New York: AMACOM.
Wauson, J., & Wilson, K. (1996). The AMA Handbook of Business Writing. New York: AMACOM.


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Appendix


(Company No. |"^^)
CUSTOMER FEEDBACK REPORT
CFR No.:
013108-001
Part I : Customer/CINCARIA Information
Customer Information: CINCARIA Information:
Company: ^*^^^^|? Received by: "?.A.*M
Feedback from
(Name) :
^^^^|^|. Date acknowledge
receipt :

Date received : 31
st
January 2008 Remarks : Return 504 pieces for rework/cleaning
process.
Part II : Nature/Details of Feedback
Please tick where applicable only:
Return Material Authorisation (RMA) Customer Observation/s
Customer Complaint/s Other (Please specify: ____________________________________ )
Details of Feedback :
No. Model/Part Number
Quantity CINCARIA Reference No.
(D.O./Lot No./Shipment Date) Affected Delivered
1 TN5 Capsule 1008 1008 08-0019/08-0034
1. The photo diode is soldered on tilted and some do not have enough solder
2. Coil leads are not inserted enough and are too long on the backside
3. Solder bridges
4. Solder balls
5. Excessive flux
6. Thermistor leads are too long
7. Presence of lint and broken coil lead
8. Failure of QA Inspectors to detect defects
Part III : Team Members
No. Name Designation No. Name Designation
1 Najib Production Manager 4 Vasan Engineering Manager
2 Aslan Facility/SMT Engineer 5 Ragu Asst. Test Engineering Manager
3 Raymond QMS/QA Manager
Part IV : Immediate/Containment Action
1. Sorting, rework and clean all in-house quantity of PCBA
a) Use special cleaning solution and ultrasonic cleaning process
Part V : Root Cause Analysis
1. The photo diode is soldered on shifted and some do not have enough solder
a) Possible use of wrong solder wire diameter, solder iron tip and flux used as it is not defined clearly in the work
instructions.
b) Manual soldering process does not provide sufficient stability to control solder joint quality, component placement, solder
wire application.
2. Coil leads are not inserted enough and are too long on the backside
a) Manual soldering process does not provide sufficient stability to control multiple parameters of the coil lead length,
exposed pre-tin area, solder joint quality and solder wire application.
3. Solder bridges
c) Possible use of wrong solder wire diameter, solder iron tip and flux used as it is not defined clearly in the work
instructions.
4. Solder balls
a) Micro solder balls found traced back to SMT process
i) Misprinted PCB was not cleaned using ultrasonic cleaner but was only cleaned by hand
b) Macro solder balls found traced back to manual soldering process
i) Solder splash caused by use of excessive use of flux.
ii) Possible use of wrong solder wire diameter, solder iron tip and flux used as it is not defined clearly in the work
instructions.
5. Excessive flux
a) Manual soldering process not consistent between assigned operators
b) Additional rework activity due to the above
c) Possible use of wrong solder wire diameter and flux used as it is not defined clearly in the work instructions.
d) Operators applying additional flux for soldering to improve solder joint quality
6. Thermister leads are too long
a) Cutter used does not suit the cutting process for this component as the cutters cutting head is too large for this
application.
b) Inspectors unable to provide a good judgment on the length of the lead without a proper inspection jig.
7. Refer to Part VI: No. 9 & 10
8. Negligence on the part of the QA Inspectors during the inspection and re-screening process, lack of out of box inspection
procedures, feedback from inspectors lacking when abnormalities are encountered.

CSB-QMS-019(A)
Part VI :
Corrective Action Commitment
Date
Personnel-in-
charge
1. The photo diode is soldered on shifted and some do not have enough solder.
a) To fabricate a jig to hold the photodiode firm in its place so that the operator
can concentrate on soldering instead of worrying about the component falling
down and also the component location. This reduces the need for rework and
also the dependency on use of flux.
b) Work instruction to improve by specifying the exact solder iron tip size and
solder wire diameter.
2. Coil leads are not inserted enough and are too long on the backside
a) To fabricate a jig to hold the coil in its place and also to control the following
i) The length of the copper wire between the PCB and coil is fixed.
ii) Exposed pre-tinned area is controlled
iii) Operator can concentrate on soldering instead of worrying about the
movement of the coil during the manual soldering process
This reduces the need for rework and also the dependency on use of flux. This
jig is subject to evaluation after the trial run.
3. Solder bridges
a) Work instruction to improve by specifying the exact solder iron tip size and
solder wire diameter.
b) Inspectors to improve by using 10X scopes for visual inspection.
4. Solder balls
a) To include into work instructions the need to use the ultrasonic cleaner for
misprinted boards instead of using manual cleaning process.
b) Prepare a product matrix to identify PCB that requires ultrasonic cleaning
process after misprint.
c) Work instruction to improve by specifying the exact solder iron tip size and
solder wire diameter.
5. Excessive flux
a) To evaluate possibility of minimizing or to eliminate the use of flux in the
manual soldering processes after the above improvements have been made.
b) To evaluate use of ultrasonic cleaner and cleaning solution to remove any
excess flux found.
6. Thermistor leads are too long
a) Need to purchase a more suitable tools/fixtures to trim the leads of the
thermistor.
b) To fabricate a template to determine the acceptability of the cut lead length.
7. Re-evaluate AOI machine program to see if possible to inspect after de-panelize to
a higher sensitivity towards component shifting and soldering defects.
8. Out-of box inspection procedures to be prepared and implemented. Need to
investigate further together with all inspectors. To provide feedback before the
stipulated date.
9. Presence of lint will no longer be an issue as in the past the cotton bud used to
clean the PCBA left the lint residue but now with the ultrasonic cleaning, no cotton
bud is required
10. Broken coil lead is due to rework activity to adjust the exposure of the pre-tinned
area on the lead to ensure that no shorting occurs between the lead and the
components. With the implementation of the jigs above, the issue should be
resolved.


18/2/2008



14/2/2008


11/2/2008







14/2/2008

Immediate

14/2/2008

14/2/2008

14/2/2008


18/2/2008

14/2/2008


13/2/2008

14/2/2008
14/2/2008

15/2/2008


N/A


N/A

Najib/Whole Team



Vasan/Arizan


Najib/Whole Team







Vasan/Arizan

Raymond

Aslan

Aslan

Vasan/Arizan


Vasan/Whole Team

Aslan/Whole Team


Vasan

Raymond
Raymond/Hafizee

Raymond


N/A


N/A

Part VII : Verification of Corrective Action
Item 1 (a) CLOSED, Jig is completed and in use.
Item 2 (a) Jig is ready for use but not able to be implemented due to inconsistencies in the lead lengths of the coils
consigned. Jig will be used for the next run once the local sourced coils are approved for use.
Item 3 CLOSED, 10X scopes have been arranged for the inspectors
Item 4 (a) & (b) CLOSED, Have been verified available and implemented on the 11/2/2008
Item 5 (a) CLOSED, flux for manual soldering process no longer required to be used.
Item 5 (b) CLOSED, new type of chemical found that leaves little or non at all of white residue. Have come to an
agreement with Scott on the level of white residue that is acceptable. This chemical will be used to clean the 504 returned
units.
Item 6 (a) CLOSED, Micro cutter has been purchased for use and found to be a more effective tool, already in use.
Item 6 (b) Vendor coming in on the 5/3/2008 to provide sample of template for evaluation.
Item 7 CLOSED, Not possible to use AOI machine to re-inspect the units. Manual visual inspection shall be maintained
as the primary method of inspection using a digital handheld microscope.
Item 8 CLOSED, Out Of Box Inspection Form ready for use on next batch of units for shipment.


Verified by : Results of verification (Please tick where applicable only) :
Designation : Closed satisfactorily
Signature :

Open, re-verification required (Re-verification date : ____________ )
Re-verification satisfactory (Signature : __________ Date :_______ )
Date :
Remarks :


Note: If re-verification is still dissatisfactory, an internal corrective action will be issued against the personnel-in-charge of the corrective action for this feedback.


(Company No.
CUSTOMER FEEDBACK REPORT
CFR No.:
CFR050407-001
Part I : Customer/CINCARIA Information
Customer Information: CINCARIA Information:
Company: Received by: Raymond Hew
Feedback from
(Name) :
Date acknowledge
receipt :
5
th
April 2007 (via phone)
Date received : 5
th
April 2007 Remarks :
Part II : Nature/Details of Feedback
Please tick where applicable only:
Return Material Authorisation (RMA) Customer Observation/s
Customer Complaint/s Other (Please specify: ____________________________________ )
Details of Feedback :
No. Model/Part Number
Quantity CINCARIA Reference No.
(D.O./Lot No./Shipment Date) Affected Delivered
1 T21 Toll Transponder Estimated 5% Approx. 16K In March 2007

We have some defects that needs you to analyze if it is your mounted boards
we found around 5% reject yield Code 1 is due to D1 tombstone issue











Part III : Team Members
No. Name Designation No. Name Designation
1 Aslan Facility/SMT Engineer
2 Najib Production Manager
3 Raymond QMS/QA Manager
Part IV : Immediate/Containment Action
Not required due to the following:-
1. No in house stock for re-screening
2. Customer due urgent production has already carried out re-screening and rework process in-house

Part V : Root Cause Analysis

Unable to carry out as there is lack of evidence available, all units have been reworked. No components remain from
the last build.
Evaluation on new lot of components yielded only positive results, no problems detected on the component.

To monitor on next build for similar issues.

Lack of awareness on inspection for this area

AOI program has low sensitivity of detection for this component









CSB-QMS-019(A)
Part VI : Corrective Action
Commitment
Date
Personnel-in-
charge

To monitor on next build for similar issue

AOI Program to be re-adjusted

Prepare Quality Alert to highlight issue to SMT and QA personnel in SMT


Next build

Immediately

12/4/07

Aslan

Raymond

Raymond


Part VII : Verification of Corrective Action

No similar issue detected on next build

AOI Program re-adjusted

Quality Alert available
Verified by : Najib Results of verification (Please tick where applicable only) :
Designation : Production Manager

Closed satisfactorily
Signature :

Open, re-verification required (Re-verification date : ____________ )
Re-verification satisfactory (Signature : __________ Date :_______ )
Date : 12/4/07
Remarks :


Note: If re-verification is still dissatisfactory, an internal corrective action will be issued against the personnel-in-charge of the corrective action for this feedback.
Transcription of Interview
Date: 5.11.2012
Time: 11.00pm
Duration: 21 minutes 46 seconds
Mode of recording: iPhone 3Gs
Interviewer: Matthew Kang (Matric No: 109559)
Interviewee: Mr Hew Hai Kuang


M: Hi, good evening, Mr. Hew. How are you today?
R: Yes, Im fine, Matthew.
M: Oh! Umm So are you ready for the interview today?
R: Yes.
M: Thank you. So, can you please introduce yourself?
R: Well, ah... My name as youve mentioned is umm Mr Hew and I work in a factory in
Bayan Lepas.
M: ah! Where Whats the name of your company?
R: ah Well for company purposes, I prefer to keep it ah undisclosed for this
interview.
M: Do you mind then showing me the documents that were about to see today?
R: ah that wont be a problem cause the company name will be blotted out.
M: Ok. Good. So umm what is your profession in position of your company?
R: Well, basically umm I work as a quality manager in the company. So Im in charge
of all the issues related to ah supply quality, ah product quality, as well as any
customer feedback, customer complaints and also to umm to set up ah
management systems for the organization and umm to provide some form of in-
house consultancy and ah to help the company set up their procedures,
instructions and ah whatever documents they need.
M: So, in general, what does your company provide? Or what services does it provide?
R: ah We provide what we call electronic manufacturing services, so, electronic
manufacturing services means were ah helping OEM companies to manufacture
their products. Ah what happens is that, for example, if a large company they have
their own product ah which are for cost effective reasons. They may choose to
outsource it to another company. So we are that company, so we help them build
their products on behalf of ah their company.
M: Ok, so, can you explain briefly what do you do in a days work.
R: Umm ok, well, from the start of the day, basically what we have is umm well
have a short briefing in the morning with my engineers and my operators. And then
subsequently umm basically the briefing is to let them know any updates on
customer issues umm any feedback coming back from customers or any new
direction coming from ah the management of the company and for them to brief me
on the status of the product that are running on the production line. How is the
quality, are there any extraordinary or abnormal ah findings or issues that are on
the line. So, from there we try to trash it out and then umm we work forwards
getting a solution and umm if necessary we may involve other departments. Then,
subsequently umm I may have to deal with any customer feedbacks or complaints
that are new or pending from ah pending for action basically. Umm aside from
that I would have ah to basically have to deal with ah day to day issues which
throughout the course of the day, my engineers or operators might have to bring up
to me. Umm yeah, so basically thats about it.
M: So is it safe to assume that you have a lot of documents to deal with?
R: Oh! Definitely!
M: Umm so what kind of documents do you usually deal with on a daily basis?
R: Ah one of the most important things that we deal with on a daily basis is umm
ah customer feedback and complaints. Umm this is because ah well,
generally, nothing is perfect. So, ah there will be times where the customers ah
there will be certain issues with the products we ship to our customers, and hence
the customer will provide a feedback and umm and if its necessary, they will raise
a complaint. Umm sometimes the customer will umm will provide a feedback
initially and theyll just let us know. And what well normally do by our procedures
well prepare a preliminary investigation report to determine if the problem is umm
on our side or perhaps it could have been ah a misunderstanding by our customer.
So this investigation reports aim is to clear up the air on ah whos accountability it
is. Umm but if it is on our side, the issue falls on ah my companys side then of
course well follow up on what we call a customer complaint report where we
provide information on umm based on their complaint and the investigation report
will provide some, ah what we call cost analysis, that means, why did it happen?.
And then subsequently we will identify what we call corrective actions which will let
them know what are the actions we can take to prevent the recurrence of the issue.
M: So, is that the only document?
R: Umm well part of my job is also to review ah what do you call that? Review
technical data sheets which come from our suppliers which Ive mentioned earlier a
supplier quality is one of the things that fall into our perview. So umm we have to
go through the specification of certain materials or chemicals that we buy, to ensure
that ah we are getting what we want. Ah what we have outlined to our suppliers.
Or sometimes we might have a need to purchase ah an alternative source or
alternative chemical or material from another supplier and thus we need to evaluate if
ah this suppliers material specifications meet the original specification of the
material we were buying from another supplier. So well go through that and umm
determine if its qualifiable.
M: Ok, so you mentioned earlier that your department helps uh other companies?
Your company department helps your company umm prepare documents and set
up systems that help them. So, what kind of documents do you prepare for them or
what kind of systems do you prepare for them?
R: Umm well, basically, umm in the manufacturing uh industry umm we have
to well basically the manufacturing industry we comply to certain uh
requirements, quality system requirements. Uh one of them is I I Im not
sure if youve heard it before its called ISO 90001. So basically ISO 90001 is a
quality management system. Uh quality management system therere certain
requirements and we need to set up documentation for the organization. So as to
comply with the requirements, and also to uh manage our processes in the
organization. So in line with that we have to set up what we call, what is generally
known in most factories or in most companies a standard operating procedure. So
standard operating procedure basically means umm procedures which help you
standardize your operations. And these procedures outline the responsibilities, what
are the step by step that they uh how theyre gonna do their work uh what are
the limitations and what are the requirements of a particular process. Yeah.
M: So ok. In a more general sense, who are these documents written by? I mean the
first three that you have mentioned before the ones that you held to others.
R: Umm the first three that Ive mentioned. Umm the first one in terms of the
preliminary investigation report and the customer feedback and the complain report
are written by myself or a or the or a team, a multifunctional team within the
organization. Ah. So it may comprise of from engineering department, production
department umm from my side, quality department and uh if necessary, the
logistics department. Depending on the situation.
M: To produce one report?
R: Yes, to produce one report because uh the problems are normally uh require
uh a multifunction team to tackle it.
M: Cross department?
R: Yes. Cross cross functional team to tackle it. Uh so we need feedback from
other departments. In order to provide comprehensive analysis for our customer and
also to give them a a a solution which is workable. Umm the second one
which I talked about was umm The third one, Im sorry was on the technical data
sheet. Now this is provided by the supplier to our company because we wish to
purchase goods from them. And hence, in order to get the goods from them, we need
to know what kind of goods are they selling and uh what are the technical
specifications of their particular product. Umm for example, if we buy a plastic
raisin in order to oh not plastic raisin. If you buy a chemical, a particular chemical,
lets say umm depoxy, its a type of glue. So we need to know curine time, what is
the melt temperature, umm how do we apply it, in what conditions we need to store
it. And these will help us to determine if uh this product is suitable for use based on
our customers requirement. Umm so, thats what we call a technical data sheet.
Uh the third one, uh what? The fourth one which Ive mentioned earlier with
regards to setting up a system for the organization. Its uh a standard operating
procedure, so these are generated internally. They can be generated by a
multifunctional team, it depends on whos involved in this particular process, which
this procedure outlines. So, it may require a multifunctional team; it may not require a
multifunctional team, it may just be the department head together with his people to
set up uh this particular procedure.
M: So, is it again safe to assume that these documents prepared for the people are the
intended audience? Meaning like for the customer service one, you prepare it for
your customers.
R: Yes
M: So, your intended audience is the customer?
R: Correct.
M: And the ones like the system one, is intended for the internal department?
R: Yes
M: Ok, and the other one, the ones from your
R: supplier.
M: From your supplier is intended for you?
R: Yes. Those are for us as the customer.
M: Ok. Right. So and I would also from what youve explanation that the function of t
hese documents are like providing information.
R: Yes.
M: Clarifying.
R: Yes.
M: Or umm what else would you like to add for the functions of the documents?
R: Umm for the as a like uh lets start with a simple one. The technical data sheet
basically provides us information, technical information, about the product we they
wish to sell us. So it gives us information. Uh the customer umm what we call the
preliminary investigation reports provides uh an analysis of the situation of the
problems which the customer is encountering. So that we are able to clarify uh
what is the problem on a in initial level. On a preliminary level. Umm then the
customer and complain feedback report is to basically provide solutions to our
customers. Uh to give them to let them know what is the problem to help
them to let them know that we are aware of the problem and we are able to resolve
it and what we have committed to resolve. Uh the standard operating procedures
uh is intended as a
M: guideline?
R: As a guide. Lets just say its a guide, they have to comply to the procedure, they
have to follow the procedure in doing their work. Uh so that it is standardize, the
work that we do. That means to say if anyone were to come in to a particular
department and they were to refer to the procedures, they will be able to fo do the
work uh that their colleuges who are uh have been there earlier are far more
senior to them. The same way, this is to ensure that uh there is a how do you
say? There is uh
M: standard procedure?
R: Yes. There is a standardization to it. So we dont waste time trying to figure out how
were going to do our work.
M: Ok. Great. Umm so do do you think there are advantages or disadvantages to
these documents that you prepare or that you encounter?
R: Uh there are. Well, if you talk about procedures, standard operating procedures,
one of the the advantage is we standardize the process and everyone follows the
same way of doing things. The disadvantage is that sometimes uh people tend
to to follow it to the point where they no longer umm use uh they no longer
how to say whats the word? Umm they no longer think before they do. Umm
they do not uh evaluate the situation, so they just follow blindly. So this is one of
the dangers of having uh... this is one of the downside to having a standard
operating procedure.
M: Ok.
R: Right? But uh but I would say like this, but if if if used in a correct spirit, it is a
very functional and very helpful document to have. Umm with regards to the
umm
M: customer.
R: Customer complaint and feedback report, uh I wouldnt say that there is a
downside to it. Uh is that if were totally honest and our intention is to help our
customer to if to to help our customer and our intention to improve, then theres
not much of a downside to uh letting them making a proper report and carrying
out the right actions to ensure that the customer doesnt get faulty product in the
future. Yeah. The investigation report is also a very good document because it helps
to clear the air on whose accountability it is, with regards to the issue. Because in
most cases uh customers normally dont want to think about it. So, I mean we
being their suppliers of a particular service. So, umm once they outsourced their
product, they want us to help them solve the problem. And thats where we come in.
So, if they face any issues, the preliminary investigation report helps to clarify if the
issue is on the customers side or its on our side. So, theres not much of a downside
to that.
M: Ok. What about the umm
R: The technical data sheet, yeah umm well I would say that that is a very neutral
I wouldnt say neutral though. Uh the suppliers are trying to sell us the product, but
I would say its neutral in a sense that I is uh a technical document. Not so much
as a sales pamphlet but it is meant to provide purely meant to provide the
necessary information of their product. Well, if they dont give us the right information,
they run a risk of a liability issue because what they claim on their data sheet, the
technical speci the technical data sheet, does not uh does not how to say?
Does not meet uh uh the actual product does not meet the technical data sheet.
Then it becomes a liability issue. So, I guess uh its neutral in that sense, they just
want to let you know this is what we can do.
M: Ok. So, for the documents that you prepare, do you already have a format that you
follow? From your company or is it something you create yourself?
R: Uh well, most companies will have a standardize format of how uh for example,
a standard operating procedure should look like. So, there are certain information
that needs to be inside uh which is quite standard for most companies. Yeah. So,
uh although it may look slightly different from different companies, but uh it will
be almost the same but in generally if umm if you are in a particular company, you
work for a particular company, you would have to follow the templates that they
provide or the formats that they provide.
M: So, in terms of the document itself, or the format of how does it look, umm do you
think there could be any improvisations tp it?
R: Uh formats of documents, forms or records are meant for people to use. So, uh it
is very important that they function uh so that it is function for the ease of use.
Uh so, the design of the document or a particular form or a record is very important
because if you want someone to spend eight hours a day filling out a record, which is
not user friendly, uh after a month uh the record will not have any meaning for
them and it doesnt serve any purpose. And of course, ah! And another thing about
forms and records are that they must serve their purpose. Yeah so uh uh So
yes, I would say that nothing is set in stone umm a company which is forward
thinking will continually revise, upgrade and rebend their procedures, records and
forms to ensure that umm their people uh to suit uh number one is to to suit
the growth of the organization uh and the under the level of their peoples
understanding and uh um capabilities, and also to and also the industry of the
product which they are making. Yeah. It should suit all these. It should be aligned
with it. So, actually in reality, documents are meant to be very umm alive.
Theyre not meant to be stagnant and kept for kept the same way for uh ten,
twenty years and you dont change them. The the in reality their supposed to be
very dynamic things which change as the company grows, expands or the direction
changes or the product changes or the type of people that work with the organization.
Oh and the culture block of the organization.
M: That is a very refreshing view about documents from someone who works in your
field of work, Mr. Hew. Umm a ffff So, you would also say that right now umm
the efficiency of the documents are up to par level or
R: Well, I wouldnt say that they are perfect but uh documents need to evolve. And
suit their environment and people using them.
M: Ok. One last question. Do you think some do you think that someone like me whos
studying English have a place in your company? To deal, especially with
documents or in your line of work.
R: Uh well, I would say that its a bit difficult because uh if you talk about in terms of
being a a litera English English student uh uh you have to understand the
nature of the work. Uh and a large part of that is technical. So, uh in order for
you to be able to function in uh lets say to write out a document or to to uh
prepare a record or form or to design a record or form for that matter you would
you first must be able to understand what the people are saying. Now, Im not saying
that its not impossible but I would say that it would require a mind which is very very
open and very very willing to learn.
M: Ah! Great. Ok, I understand. So I think thats all the time I have and all the questions I
have. Thank you so much for spending this umm time and I hope to see you
again.
R: Youre welcome!
M: Thank you.